The Lebanese Army freed 27 people who had been held for ransom at a farm in western Bekaa and arrested the kidnappers, an Army statement reported Wednesday night.
The Army had received information that people were being held at a farm near Baaloul in western Bekaa. It subsequently raided the farm, freed 27 Syrian nationals and arrested the kidnappers. The statement identified the kidnappers as Lebanese nationals A.H., B.H. and H.S. They were also in possession of military weapons.
The conflict has displaced more than 5 million Syrians outside the country, the United Nations says, with more than half displaced to Turkey and most of the rest split between Lebanon and Jordan
Thousands of Syrians are unable to return because their homes were destroyed in the fighting, or because they region fear military conscription or retribution from regime forces.
About 55,000 Syrian refugees had returned since July, according to the Lebanese Caretaker Minister of State for Refugee Affairs Mouin Merehbi, such a number contrasts with that announced by General Security last week, which put the number of returnees at almost 90,000 during the same period. He went on to criticize what he called a lack of coordination between General Security and his ministry.
Syrian activists have voiced concern about the fate of the Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon after Merehbi's statements who assured that 20 Syrian refugees who had returned from Lebanon to Syria had been killed by regime forces.
The head of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research, Anwar al-Bunni, warned of the unknown fate of Syrian refugees, urging the International community to save lives of the returnees who were subjected to an arrest by the Syrian regime.
But the tough retractions and mounting arrest campaign by the Lebanese security have pushed hundreds of refugees to move back home as fighting there subsides.
A survey made by Zaman al-Wasl on a random sample of refugees in the camps of Arsal, including 210 refugees, showed that 92% of the refugees had refused to return, while 8% had agreed to return to the towns that they described as safe in the western Qalamoun.
The appeal reflects the regime's growing confidence after more than seven years of war. Syrian regime forces, with crucial support from Russia and Iran, recently retook large areas near the capital, Damascus, and are waging a new offensive in the south. The regime refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists.
Since the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, more than 470,000 people have been killed, and more than 6 million people have been displaced.
Zaman Al Wasl, The Daily Star
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